When I think of evil, I think of Bob.
A deceitful,
mean monster
that loves to torture people.
And the way I feel right now, I'm telling you this,
I will not forget Bob Walden.
I loathe him.
He is happy doing what he's doing.
It gives him joy, and that's not normal.
There was a bulletin board, and there
was a composite drawing of a man.
The first thought was... That looks like my husband.
And I was sleeping with that person
every night in the same bed.
He was disgusting to me when I found out it was him.
But I asked myself, how did I not see it?
I had secrets that I didn't want anyone
to hear, because I was embarrassed and ashamed.
But today, my secrets will be told,
because I want to feel like I can live again.
This has been heavy for almost 30 years,
and I feel like he ruined my life.
But I'm here, and I'm living, and I will stand tall.
I'm telling the world,
I did not know
that he was doing those things.
I'm not asking for sympathy.
I'm just saying, please, understand me.
And I've never shared that with anyone, ever.
But today, I will.
[The Paper Chase's "What's So Amazing About Grace?" plays]
[strings continue playing sinister tune]
[static crackling]
[knock at door] [creaking]
[banging on door]
[creaking]
[water dripping]
[banging on door] [creaking]
[sinister chord strikes]
This is a picture of me at 15 years old
with my son, Andrew,
right before I met Bob.
I got pregnant the first time I ever did anything.
I didn't even know what I was doing, really.
When I looked at him every day, my son,
I loved him so much, that I wanted
to give him that American dream, so to speak.
I wanted him to have a mom and a dad and a house
and all the things that he was supposed to have.
Bob was 21 when I met him.
I lived with my mother, and I had three sisters
and one brother.
I was walking to our mailbox,
and he'd lived with his parents
in just the next building over, and I was
walking by, and I had my little baby with me, and he came
out and started talking to me.
He's adorable. What's his name?
Uh, Andrew.
He was in the Air Force, so
I felt like he has to be a good guy.
Hi, Andrew.
And he was real nice to Andrew, I noticed.
He was handsome, just so outgoing,
friendly, and joking, and it really drew me in.
You have a very pretty mommy.
I was honored he was showing me attention and even
considering me... having a child
out of wedlock and wanting to go on a date with me.
Maybe if you could get your mom to babysit one night
we could go do something.
Um, yeah. Sure, that'd be great.
CATHY: I was really excited about it
and couldn't wait to see him the next time.
I daydreamed about having him
as a father for my son and husband for myself,
and then I fell in love with him.
Looking back, I think he was a wolf in sheep's clothing.
I do believe that I was singled out, because I was
a young girl that knew nothing about anything,
and I fell for it.
[mellow music playing]
My mom didn't like him from the very beginning.
One day, my mom caught me talking to Bob.
Cathy, what are you doing out here?
And she said, "What are you doing?"
I said, "Well, mom, I want to introduce you to Bob Walden.
"He's... he moved here from Chicago, and his parents
live here."
She's like, "Yeah, nice to meet you."
And she looked at him, and he just
looked at her, and she said, "Aren't you
in your twenties?"
She's a little young for you, don't you think?
Mom!
He said, "I'm 21."
My mom said, "Yes, and my daughter's 16."
She said, "Stay away from her."
It's all right.
I need to get going anyways.
Bob just gave my mom this... this glare.
And then he left.
That's when she said, "I... I don't want you talking to
that boy."
Mom, what's wrong with you?
I do not want you talking to him.
I said, you know,
"Why? He's a nice person. He's... he's a good man."
And she said, "There's something about his eyes.
It's evil, they're evil."
And... and I was looking at her like, "Mom,
"how can you say that about somebody?
You know, you don't know him."
And she said it was a feeling.
You're crazy.
I know what she means now,
because I saw it later on.
But then I was just, you know,
swept off my feet, you know, by this guy,
and I wasn't hearing my mom.
My mom was right.
She said there was something about his eyes
that she was not comfortable with, and she's right.
That blank look...
That's the look that I started to see.
Like he didn't care about anything.
Like no conscience, capable of anything look.
You wonder what he's thinking.
He's just staring.
He just stares at you, and that's the look.
[suspenseful music playing]
We dated secretly for six months.
Bob said, "I'm tired of the sneaking around,
"and you're not standing up to your mom.
"You need to be a woman and stand up to your mom,
and you need to tell her that you're gonna marry me."
And I was like, "What?"
You know? And he's like, "Will you marry me?"
What Bob told me is when we're married, you don't have to
listen to your mom anymore.
"You will listen to me, we'll be a family, you know,
and we can be together all the time."
And that sounded great.
Looking back, I know what was going on.
He was manipulating me and turning me against my family.
I was married to Robert Walden when I was only 16.
My aunt talked my mom into letting
me get married.
The wedding day was so exciting.
I felt like a princess.
It was the fairy tale wedding that I always wanted.
This is of me
and Bob kissing at our wedding.
I was so happy.
I thought I was in love,
the way a 16-year-old girl would be in love.
With everything that I know today,
when I see this picture now,
I don't like it, because of what
I know about him and what he is.
It makes me angry.
And I hate that I'm kissing him when I see it today.
I hate that.
The fairy tale was short-lived, because only two days later,
I saw a whole 'nother side of Bob.
I was getting ready for work, and he's like,
"Why are you putting on makeup?"
He said, "You look awful."
Why are you wearing that?
You look fat in that.
CATHY: He was calling me fat.
He was like a whole other person.
He used to always tell me I was beautiful,
his little Latina from Arizona.
So I was like, but I'm not any
different than I was when you met me.
This is how I always look.
Why... why would you say that?
And he says, "I'm not gonna put
up with a wife talking back to me."
And boom!
It came at me so fast that I didn't even know it was coming.
I couldn't believe he hit me.
It was like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde kind of stuff.
You never
use that kind of attitude with me.
Got it?
That's when my fairy tale ended, because I thought,
oh my God, who is this man?
Who is this man?
And he told me,
"Get your ass to work."
Hurry up and go.
I'll take the kid.
CATHY: I was so confused.
Is this what marriage is?
I was 16, so...
I didn't know what to expect,
but I know that my dad didn't hit my mom.
I thought to myself,
this will never happen again.
It was a misunderstanding,
and that's what I thought.
[ominous music playing]
Soon after we were married, I noticed a whole 'nother side
of him... he wasn't that happy, smiley,
fun guy that I craved to be around.
Little things would set him off.
- Here you go. - Thank you.
One day, I made Bob soup when he came home,
and I made his soup too hot.
What the hell is wrong with you?
And he threw it up against the wall.
He told me to clean it up, and he said,
"And I want that cleaned up
by the time I get back."
I'm going out.
He told me I was his property,
and that there was nothing I can do about it.
He was in control of me.
He gives me a kiss on the cheek,
and let me tell you,
he was humiliating me, I felt.
That's a good girl.
CATHY: And I just felt like I was nothing to him.
I just didn't understand why he married me
if he didn't want to be with me
or he was gonna treat me like that.
I just didn't know what was going on.
He was very sexually active, and I didn't like him to
touch me anymore,
and it was because
he was getting real rough with me.
He would say dirty things,
horrible talk, like I was a prostitute or something,
makin' me feel like I'm... I'm defiled.
I'm... you know, I'm humiliated.
You're a dirty girl, aren't you?
And he would ask me if I liked it.
It totally just made me think, oh my God,
you know, he is disgusting.
Please, not... not tonight.
It was so different from what I experienced in the beginning.
I was forced to do it.
I didn't have a choice.
Come on.
Now.
To be forced to do things you don't
want to do and you know are wrong
or they hurt or things like that, your whole
being as a person just goes away.
I always felt disgusting and never felt like it
was a husband and wife that really loved each other.
I felt like I was being severely abused in every way,
and... and I've never shared that with anyone,
ever, until today.
I wanted to be loved so bad.
I wanted this to work out so much.
I wanted my son to have a father,
I didn't want to jump the gun and make a choice or decision
to leave if I could patch it up.
But...
I saw things that
were not acceptable.
He would say things like, "I think I'm gonna go ask
"your little sister
"if she wants to take a ride on the motorcycle
with me."
Well if you won't ride with me, maybe she will.
Bob would tell her that she was pretty and stuff,
and then he would tell me, "Your sister's... she's 14?"
He'd say, "God she looks so much older,"
and that kind of stuff like that,
I'd be really upset.
You know she's barely in her teens, right?
CATHY: My heart would just start pounding.
I didn't trust him.
I worried about him hurting her or forcing himself on her.
I was terrified for my sister.
So I told my sister,
"Don't ever go anywhere with him... don't."
And my sister agreed.
His cousin was in town,
and he wanted to take the kids over there.
Brittany was just a little baby, I was breastfeeding her.
Come on, let's go.
And when I said, "I think that she should stay,
because I gotta breastfeed her,"
he got just so upset with me.
Why don't you want the kids to see her?
That's not what I'm saying.
And he actually punched me.
And I was like, whoa, because this was probably
the hardest beating I ever had from him.
I was on the ground, and he was just wailing on me,
he didn't care that I was holding this newborn baby,
and I was huddled over her, hoping that his
big fist didn't hit this little baby and kill her.
[distantly] Bob! Stop!
CATHY: All I could do is just take it.
It crossed my mind that I could die.
Um, he could kill me.
And, um, the only thing that stopped him,
really, was our neighbor knocked on the door.
[doorbell rings]
[knocking noises]
And he stopped.
Don't say a word.
[knocking noises]
And he was just quiet.
We didn't answer, and she walked away.
I think he would have kept going.
I do. I really do.
I think he would have just kept going, because he was
so angry.
I knew I had to go to the hospital.
Bob, please. I need... I need help.
I felt like my face was falling off.
And sure, enough my jaw was broke, like, in three places.
That's how violent it was.
But he would not call an ambulance.
He dropped me off at the hospital.
He told me that I better not tell them what
happened or they were gonna take the kids away.
You say nothing.
Understood?
CATHY: I was to tell them that I
was climbing on the counter, and I fell.
So that's what I told them.
I was young, thinking my kids were gonna get
taken away from me, because that's what he said.
People will say, "Well why didn't you, you know,
leave then?" or whatever. It's not that easy.
I felt like I just didn't know what to do.
This picture is of Bob and me at the pool.
During this time,
I hid behind some of my smiles.
So what you're seeing might look like a happy girl,
but I was not happy at that time.
He would look at women all the time.
I no longer felt special.
But that day at the pool takes me back to wonder,
was this a time that
something happened bad to someone?
[mellow piano music playing]
Bob and I would take Andrew to the pool on the weekends,
and this particular day, this woman
that lived in the same complex,
she makes a comment to me about the way I looked,
what I was wearing, and being big and pregnant.
I was very hurt by it.
Do you believe her?
CATHY: Well, she gets up,
and she starts walking out the gate,
and Bob tells me, "I'm gonna go get us some drinks."
We were just there.
I want a drink.
And I thought, "He wants to go flirt or something,"
and it was the way he looked at her.
Well, he follows right after her,
and then he doesn't come back right away.
So I was pretty pissed,
thinking that they were having an affair or something.
But when he came back, he was fine.
He was smiley and acted like nothing.
So I calmed down a little bit.
But the thought was always there.
The next time I saw her,
she was in the courtroom.
She was one of the victims that survived
her attack, and I recognized her right away.
She said she was at the pool,
and she had left,
and it was shortly after that, someone came up behind her.
He used a cord off of her curling iron to strangle her.
What I realized is that she had nothing to do with Bob.
She didn't even know who he was.
When he followed her that day,
it was because he was going to hurt her.
I felt guilty.
I felt horrible, because I was thinking that
she was having an affair with my husband, and...
she met him in the worst way.
Soon after we got married,
he got a job with a pest control company.
He would go home to home, doing inspections for termites.
If you're doing a termite inspection, a lot of
the times, the guys had to go under the house,
and on occasions, the guys would
get scraped up and stuff like that.
But it seemed like with Bob, he was always injured on the job.
CATHY: He would come home with scratches, like, down his back,
and he had cuts on his hand.
I remember it was a day like any other day,
and when he walked in the door, I saw his shirt torn
up here.
That's a pretty big rip.
Is everything okay?
Yes. Just clumsy is all.
He said he got caught up on a nail underneath the house.
CATHY: But something wasn't right.
His shirt was torn in a way that it looked
like somebody grabbed it from the front and pulled down, so...
I was thinking, well, how did you get that rip if you just
cut yourself up on something?
Then he had scratches
on his neck,
behind his ear, all the... like, big, thick, deep scratches.
What's that on your neck?
I scratched myself under the house.
Just drop it.
I was trying to puzzle it together, you know,
and figure it out.
CATHY: I didn't say anything, because I didn't
want a fight or argument, but
after the fact, it was shared with me that those were wounds
that he got from his victims that were fighting for
their lives.
Just hearing that, it just makes you sick.
[ominous music playing]
Bob and I worked at the same pest control company.
Bob wanted me to work there, so I said, "Okay I'll do that."
I worked in the office, so I had access to
the timecard machine, and I didn't think
anything of it when he would ask me to clock
him in or out.
Hi, this is Cathy.
CATHY: When he would call and say, "Hey I am stuck
"in traffic,
I can be there in 15 minutes, please clock me in."
"Okay." I'd clock him in.
Same thing for lunch or for him coming home, "Clock me out.
"I'm gonna get the kids or I'm gonna get this,
and I'll meet you at home."
It's only 10 minutes. "Okay."
Yeah, okay. I'll be here.
We weren't supposed to be clocking other employees out.
That was a rule I was breaking.
I was not comfortable with it,
but we're husband and wife, so I would clock him in and out
whenever he called and asked me to do it.
But it just seemed like it happened
more and more, and he'd never show up
like he said he was gonna show up.
Everyone would be gone, and I was there
waiting until seven and eight o'clock at night.
I realized later that I was making an alibi for him.
He was actually out doing whatever he was doing,
but it showed that he was working, and I'm the one that
was clocking him in and out,
not even really realizing what I was doing.
I was being used.
Being married to Bob,
there were certain things that were off limits,
and one of them was his recliner.
I wasn't to sit in it. I wasn't to mess with it.
I wasn't to clean it, dust it off, nothing.
The kids were not allowed to sit in it.
I knew if he walked in, and they
were in his chair, I was in trouble.
Even when I was home by myself,
I never messed with that chair.
I sometimes wasn't allowed in the living room.
I had to go to the bedroom,
because he needed his time for himself.
I just remember sitting on my bed,
waiting for the okay to come out.
I'd be in there sometimes two or three hours.
I was not allowed to come out until he opened the door.
I didn't hear a peep out there from him.
I heard just the T.V.
I just thought he was being a big baby,
not wanting anyone to sit in his chair,
but it was because he had a lot of stuff under that chair.
When he was arrested, they found things
he had hidden that I didn't even know.
An assortment of knives.
A few pair of women's underwear.
Phone cords, um, like bundled up with zipties
on 'em, things that were really bizarre.
It was all in the pouch of the recliner.
He stored stuff there.
[ominous music playing]
When this serial rapist was on the loose, we were terrified.
Our community was terrified.
But when the murdering started, that was even more scarier.
[distant siren wailing]
This particular day, we were just getting home,
and I was getting things out of the car.
We had ordered a pizza, and there
was so much going on on our street.
Lights, ambulance, police officers.
I walked towards the street, because
I want to know what's going on.
Bob's walking towards the street, too, and I'm saying,
"What happened, what's going on?"
What do you think that is?
Must be something awful.
He said something really bad's happened.
CATHY: He had the pizza box, and he's standing there holding
a piece of pizza, and he's eating it,
looking down at all the lights go on and everything, and he was
just eating his pizza like normal,
like, just like nothing, and...
we heard that there was a attack.
DISPATCHER: Okay.
We had neighbors coming outside,
because they heard it,
and they wanted to know what was going on.
He was eating his pizza, and he just was real calm and...
And he turns around, he's like, "Let's get inside."
Pizza's getting cold.
Two days later, news comes on,
and it's talking about the woman that was attacked
down the street.
It was this same woman that I saw
on the bus just a few days before,
she was raped and murdered.
I cried.
Bob thought it was silly for me to be crying like that,
because I didn't even know her.
I went to the laundromat, and I was carrying my laundry
and... and I set it down, and there was a bulletin board.
And there was a composite drawing of a man,
and when I looked up,
the first thought was, "That looks like my husband."
Identical eyes, the almond-shaped eyes,
everything... Bob had very distinctive features.
It was Bob.
And I just kept looking at it, and...
I just thought to myself, "I don't know what to do."
That's the composite drawing.
It was like, "Have you seen this man? Wanted."
And I saw it, and I... Before I even read it,
I said, "That's my husband."
And the paper had this picture, and they had little
pieces of paper that you can pull down
with a number.
I pulled the very first one off.
I put that little paper in my bra, but I was a nervous wreck.
I realized I was married to a rapist, and he was a murderer.
I was really scared that I remember,
kept pulling my clothes back out.
I rushed home.
When I got there, Bob was there.
I thought you were at the laundromat.
I was.
I said to Bob, "Hey,
"you know that guy that's going around killing people
and raping them?"
You know that guy the police are looking for?
I was gonna tell him that he looked like the composite.
But what happened was, he turned around, and he looked at
me with those eyes, and said, "Yeah, what about it?"
And when he did that with his eyes,
he looked at me like... Like he was gonna kill me.
It scared me to death.
I knew to say something different.
I said, "It looks like the guy you work with."
I said it real quick.
And he said, "Oh really?"
And then I got in my car,
and I drove to work, and that's what I made the phone call.
When I saw that composite drawing, I went to work,
and I called that number.
I would do it halfway, and then I'd hang it up.
And it's not that I didn't want to do it,
I just... I was nervous.
My fear was what if he finds out that I did this?
And then I just... I got the strength and courage,
and I just dialed the whole number,
and when they answered, I... I kind of froze up a little bit.
Yeah... Yes. Hello.
Uh, can I speak with a detective, please?
But I was like, "I'm calling about
a picture, and I think I know who it is."
And he said, "Who?"
And I said, "My husband, Robert Walden."
I gave him my address,
and he said, "Someone will be contacting you,
and they will get more information from you."
Well, that didn't sit very well with me.
You have to arrest him immediately.
Why aren't they coming right now?
I wanted them to come right now.
If he found out that I was the one that turned him in,
I believe it would have escalated to my own murder.
That night, I would not sleep with Bob.
I was on the couch, and he was
really mad that I was sleeping on the couch.
I said it was because I was pregnant.
That night, I would not lay in bed with him,
because of this.
I laid there, I cried, because he was a murderer and a killer.
And I had my two kids laying in their beds,
and wondering, are we gonna be victims of something?
If he can kill strangers, he can kill us, too.
I don't remember if I slept or not,
but I just remember crying a lot,
quietly, but I... I felt
like help wasn't far away, because that man
told me that they were gonna be contacting me.
All my faith was in
the police department.
[ominous music playing]
My memory is this... we had just gotten back from a movie.
I didn't want to go,
because I was waiting for them to come.
When we got in the door and everything,
he goes to his recliner, and I have the two little ones,
and I'm getting them... Them in their pajamas for bed.
And as I'm doing that, they kicked in our door.
It happened so fast, and I looked over,
and they had Bob
down on the floor.
And when they took him outside and read him his rights,
it was such a relief. I felt happiness.
I saw the awful monster in my life was being
removed, and I felt like we were gonna be safe.
When they were putting him in the...
The police car, with his handcuffs on,
he stared at me and said nothing.
It was a glare,
and he did that the whole time.
I've always wondered if
he knew that it was me that made that phone call.
To this day,
I wonder.
CATHY: I felt such a burden lifted.
It was the best feeling I could've had
is him being taken to that police car.
I didn't even say goodbye.
I just... I was so happy to be
alone with my kids, because that was my freedom.
And that was what I've been waiting for, for a long time.
And, uh...
so for me, it was...
probably one of the best days of my life.
CATHY: At the sentencing, I looked over at Bob to see
how he was reacting to his sentence.
And when they said the death penalty,
he was very calm and looking around like he didn't care.
It didn't faze him.
I would like to be there when they execute him.
I would like to watch him take his last breath.
I want to see that, and I will have my peace, too.
Bob Walden is a monster that is
hurting people that needs to be punished
for what he has done.
I don't feel sad about it.
I don't feel any kind of remorse with my thought
when it comes to Bob Walden.
I would like to let it go.
I have so many reasons why I want to just let it go.
Just the thought of knowing it was my husband.
I asked myself, "How did I not see it?"
I didn't know what a murderer looked like or acted like,
but it was my husband.
That's what a murderer is.